
In Search of the Common Good
Christian Fidelity in a Fractured World
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $17.19
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Jim Denison
About this listen
Common life in our society is in decline. Our communities are disintegrating, as the loss of meaningful work and the breakdown of the family leave us anxious and alone - indeed, half of all Americans report daily feelings of loneliness. Our public discourse is polarized and hateful. Ethnic minorities face systemic injustices and the ever-present fear of violence and deportation. Economic inequalities are widening.
In this book, Jake Meador diagnoses our society's decline as the failure of a particular story we've told about ourselves: the story of modern liberalism. He shows us how that story has led to our collective loss of meaning, wonder, and good work, and then recovers each of these by grounding them in a different story - a story rooted in the deep tradition of the Christian faith.
Our story doesn't have to end in loneliness and despair. There are reasons for hope -reasons grounded in a different, better story. In Search of the Common Good reclaims a vision of common life for our fractured times: a vision that doesn't depend on the destinies of our economies or our political institutions, but on our citizenship in a heavenly city. Only through that vision - and that citizenship - can we truly work together for the common good.
©2019 Jake Meador (P)2019 eChristianListeners also enjoyed...
-
What Are Christians For?
- Life Together at the End of the World
- By: Jake Meador
- Narrated by: Adam Verner
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What does a Christian political witness look like in our day? Politics ought to be defined by fidelity to the common good of all the members of society. But our modern Western politics are defined by a determination to bend the natural world and human life to its own political and economic ends.
-
-
Needed to be heard or read
- By Debbie on 10-26-24
By: Jake Meador
-
Every Good Endeavor
- Connecting Your Work to God's Work
- By: Timothy Keller
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a work world that is increasingly competitive and insecure, people often have nagging questions: Why am I doing this work? Why is it so hard? And is there anything I can do about it? Tim Keller, pastor of New York's Redeemer Presbyterian Church and New York Times best-selling author of The Reason for God, has taught and counseled students, young professionals, and senior leaders on the subject of work and calling for more than 20 years.
-
-
Great Book - lots of mistakes in the Audio version
- By Virginia on 01-19-15
By: Timothy Keller
-
Forgive
- Why Should I and How Can I?
- By: Timothy Keller
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Forgiving anyone in a meaningful way is one of the hardest things a person has to do. If you do not, resentment and vengeance begin to consume you. It is nearly impossible to move past transgression without forgiveness, but few people have the resources and the tools to forgive others fully and move on with their lives.
-
-
very difficult to follow
- By B. W. C. on 05-16-23
By: Timothy Keller
-
How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor
- By: James K.A. Smith
- Narrated by: Trevor Thompson
- Length: 5 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How (Not) to Be Secular is what Jamie Smith calls "your hitchhiker's guide to the present" - it is both a reading guide to Charles Taylor's monumental work, A Secular Age, and philosophical guidance on how we might learn to live in our times. Taylor's landmark book, A Secular Age (2007), provides a monumental, incisive analysis of what it means to live in the post-Christian present - a pluralist world of competing beliefs and growing unbelief. Jamie Smith's book is a compact field guide to Taylor's insightful study of the secular.
-
-
Accessible Charles Taylor!
- By Jesus on 05-29-18
By: James K.A. Smith
-
Biblical Critical Theory
- How the Bible's Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture
- By: Christopher Watkin, Timothy Keller
- Narrated by: Christopher Ashman
- Length: 26 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Biblical Critical Theory, Christopher Watkin draws a winsome vision for biblical cultural engagement in which faithfulness to Scripture and sensitivity to culture walk hand in hand. If Christians want to speak with a fresh, engaging and constructive voice within our culture, we need to press deeper into the core truths of the Bible.
-
-
learn to diagonalize.
- By Charles W. Arnold on 08-24-23
By: Christopher Watkin, and others
-
Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools
- An Invitation to the Wonder and Mystery of Prayer
- By: Tyler Staton, Tim Mackie - foreword
- Narrated by: Tyler Staton, Tim Mackie
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Prayer is the source of Jesus's most astonishing miracles and the subject of Jesus's most audacious promises, and yet, people find prayer to be boring, obligatory, or confusing. Join Tyler Staton, author, pastor, and national director of the 24/7 Prayer movement, as he invites you to discover the incredible gift of prayer.
-
-
Vital enrichment to go higher up and deeper in.
- By D.W. Ross on 06-28-23
By: Tyler Staton, and others
-
What Are Christians For?
- Life Together at the End of the World
- By: Jake Meador
- Narrated by: Adam Verner
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What does a Christian political witness look like in our day? Politics ought to be defined by fidelity to the common good of all the members of society. But our modern Western politics are defined by a determination to bend the natural world and human life to its own political and economic ends.
-
-
Needed to be heard or read
- By Debbie on 10-26-24
By: Jake Meador
-
Every Good Endeavor
- Connecting Your Work to God's Work
- By: Timothy Keller
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a work world that is increasingly competitive and insecure, people often have nagging questions: Why am I doing this work? Why is it so hard? And is there anything I can do about it? Tim Keller, pastor of New York's Redeemer Presbyterian Church and New York Times best-selling author of The Reason for God, has taught and counseled students, young professionals, and senior leaders on the subject of work and calling for more than 20 years.
-
-
Great Book - lots of mistakes in the Audio version
- By Virginia on 01-19-15
By: Timothy Keller
-
Forgive
- Why Should I and How Can I?
- By: Timothy Keller
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Forgiving anyone in a meaningful way is one of the hardest things a person has to do. If you do not, resentment and vengeance begin to consume you. It is nearly impossible to move past transgression without forgiveness, but few people have the resources and the tools to forgive others fully and move on with their lives.
-
-
very difficult to follow
- By B. W. C. on 05-16-23
By: Timothy Keller
-
How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor
- By: James K.A. Smith
- Narrated by: Trevor Thompson
- Length: 5 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How (Not) to Be Secular is what Jamie Smith calls "your hitchhiker's guide to the present" - it is both a reading guide to Charles Taylor's monumental work, A Secular Age, and philosophical guidance on how we might learn to live in our times. Taylor's landmark book, A Secular Age (2007), provides a monumental, incisive analysis of what it means to live in the post-Christian present - a pluralist world of competing beliefs and growing unbelief. Jamie Smith's book is a compact field guide to Taylor's insightful study of the secular.
-
-
Accessible Charles Taylor!
- By Jesus on 05-29-18
By: James K.A. Smith
-
Biblical Critical Theory
- How the Bible's Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture
- By: Christopher Watkin, Timothy Keller
- Narrated by: Christopher Ashman
- Length: 26 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Biblical Critical Theory, Christopher Watkin draws a winsome vision for biblical cultural engagement in which faithfulness to Scripture and sensitivity to culture walk hand in hand. If Christians want to speak with a fresh, engaging and constructive voice within our culture, we need to press deeper into the core truths of the Bible.
-
-
learn to diagonalize.
- By Charles W. Arnold on 08-24-23
By: Christopher Watkin, and others
-
Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools
- An Invitation to the Wonder and Mystery of Prayer
- By: Tyler Staton, Tim Mackie - foreword
- Narrated by: Tyler Staton, Tim Mackie
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Prayer is the source of Jesus's most astonishing miracles and the subject of Jesus's most audacious promises, and yet, people find prayer to be boring, obligatory, or confusing. Join Tyler Staton, author, pastor, and national director of the 24/7 Prayer movement, as he invites you to discover the incredible gift of prayer.
-
-
Vital enrichment to go higher up and deeper in.
- By D.W. Ross on 06-28-23
By: Tyler Staton, and others
-
The Dawn of Everything
- A New History of Humanity
- By: David Graeber, David Wengrow
- Narrated by: Mark Williams
- Length: 24 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A trailblazing account of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution—from the development of agriculture and cities to the emergence of "the state", political violence, and social inequality—and revealing new possibilities for human emancipation.
-
-
exactly what I've been looking for
- By DankTurtle on 11-10-21
By: David Graeber, and others
-
America's Religious History
- Faith, Politics, and the Shaping of a Nation
- By: Thomas S. Kidd
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In America's Religious History, leading historian Thomas S. Kidd traces the theological and ethnic diversity and enduring strength of American religion, with special attention to Christianity and evangelical faith. Interweaving religious history and key events from the larger narrative of American history, the audiobook considers how faith commitments and categories have shaped the nation.
-
-
Good Overview
- By ejb on 12-07-22
By: Thomas S. Kidd
-
You Are Not Your Own
- Belonging to God in an Inhuman World
- By: Alan Noble
- Narrated by: Adam Verner
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"You are your own, and you belong to yourself." This is the fundamental assumption of modern life. And if we are our own, then it's up to us to forge our own identities and to make our lives significant. But while that may sound empowering, it turns out to be a crushing responsibility - one that never actually delivers on its promise of a free and fulfilled life, but instead leaves us burned out, depressed, anxious, and alone. This phenomenon is mapped out onto the very structures of our society, and helps explain our society's underlying disorder.
-
-
Thought provoking
- By Hobswife on 12-13-22
By: Alan Noble
-
A Practical Guide to Culture
- Helping the Next Generation Navigate Today's World
- By: John Stonestreet, Brett Kunkle
- Narrated by: Jim Denison
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We don't have to lose the next generation to culture. In this practical guide, John Stonestreet and Brett Kunkle explore questions including: What unseen undercurrents are shaping 21st-century youth culture?Why do so many kids struggle with identity? How do we talk to kids about same-sex marriage and transgenderism? How can leaders steer kids away from substance abuse and other addictions? With biblical clarity, this is the practical go-to manual to equip kids to rise above the culture.
-
-
A must read!
- By Amazon Customer on 05-02-18
By: John Stonestreet, and others
-
Strange New World
- How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution
- By: Carl R. Trueman, Ryan T. Anderson - foreword
- Narrated by: Carl R. Trueman
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How did the world arrive at its current, disorienting state of identity politics, and how should the church respond? Historian Carl R. Trueman discusses how influences ranging from traditional institutions to technology and pornography moved modern culture toward an era of "expressive individualism." Investigating philosophies from the Romantics, Nietzsche, Marx, Wilde, Freud, and the New Left, he outlines the history of Western thought to the distinctly sexual direction of present-day identity politics and explains the modern implications of these ideas.
-
-
Read and reread
- By Daniel on 04-04-22
By: Carl R. Trueman, and others
-
The Creator and the Cosmos
- How the Latest Scientific Discoveries Reveal God
- By: Hugh Ross
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whether you are skeptical of God's existence or seeking scientific support for your faith, The Creator and the Cosmos will enable you to see how the heavens do declare the glory of God (Ps. 19:1).
-
-
I'm a skeptic.
- By Ryan on 09-12-22
By: Hugh Ross
-
Freedom of Simplicity
- Finding Harmony in a Complex World
- By: Richard J. Foster
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written in the same warm, accessible style as Richard Foster's best-selling Celebration of Discipline, Freedom of Simplicity articulates a creative, more human style of living and points the way for Christians to make their lives "models of simplicity."
-
-
Challenging and provoking
- By Kindle Customer on 05-27-09
-
Subversive Sabbath
- The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World
- By: A.J. Swoboda
- Narrated by: Kyle Tait
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We live in a 24/7 culture of endless productivity, workaholism, distraction, burnout, and anxiety-a way of life to which we've sadly grown accustomed. This tired system of "life" ultimately destroys our souls, our bodies, our relationships, our society, and the rest of God's creation. The whole world grows exhausted because humanity has forgotten to enter into God's rest. Combining creative storytelling, pastoral sensitivity, practical insight, and relevant academic research, Subversive Sabbath offers a unique invitation to personal Sabbath-keeping.
-
-
loved.
- By Krystal Allen on 06-10-21
By: A.J. Swoboda
-
The Scandal of Holiness
- Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints
- By: Jessica Hooten Wilson, Lauren Winner - foreword
- Narrated by: Nancy Peterson
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Award-winning author Jessica Hooten Wilson explains that learning to hear the call of holiness requires cultivating a new imagination-one rooted in the act of reading. Learning to read with eyes attuned to the saints who populate great works of literature moves us toward holiness, where God opens up a way of living that extends far beyond what we can conjure for ourselves. Literature has the power to show us what a holy life looks like, and these depictions often scandalize even as they shape our imagination.
-
-
A very special read
- By Mike on 03-28-23
By: Jessica Hooten Wilson, and others
-
You're Only Human
- How Your Limits Reflect God's Design and Why That's Good News
- By: Kelly M. Kapic
- Narrated by: Jim Denison
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rather than sharing better time-management tips to squeeze more hours out of the day, Kelly Kapic takes a different approach in You're Only Human. He offers a better way to make peace with the fact that God didn't create us to do it all.
-
-
Such an encouraging read
- By Amazon Customer on 02-19-25
By: Kelly M. Kapic
-
The Evangelical Imagination
- How Stories, Images, and Metaphors Created a Culture in Crisis
- By: Karen Swallow Prior
- Narrated by: Susan Hanfield
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Acclaimed author Karen Swallow Prior examines evangelical history, both good and bad. By analyzing the literature, art, and popular culture that has surrounded evangelicalism, she unpacks some of the movement's most deeply held concepts, ideas, values, and practices to consider what is Christian rather than merely cultural. The result is a clearer path forward for evangelicals amid their current identity crisis—and insight for others who want a deeper understanding of what the term "evangelical" means today.
-
-
Fantastic Content, Unfortunate Narration
- By Matthew Carson on 09-02-23
-
The Religion of American Greatness
- What's Wrong with Christian Nationalism
- By: Paul D. Miller, David French - foreword
- Narrated by: Mike Lenz
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From America's beginning, Christians have often merged their religious faith with national identity. But what is Christian nationalism? Paul D. Miller, a Christian scholar, political theorist, veteran, and former White House staffer, provides a detailed portrait of—and case against—Christian nationalism. Miller shows what's at stake if we misunderstand the relationship between Christianity and the American nation. Christian nationalism is an illiberal political theory, at odds with the genius of the American experiment, and could prove devastating to both church and state.
-
-
Insightful and Challenging
- By P. Schneider on 01-26-25
By: Paul D. Miller, and others
What listeners say about In Search of the Common Good
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Timothy D. Sprankle
- 02-06-20
Thoughtful call for Christians to do good publicly
Jake Meador provides a thoughtful overview of the demise of Christian culture in America and an opportunity for Christian faith to rise from the ashes.
PROS:
His arguments are well-researched, blending sociology, political theory, philosophy, theology, and Wendell Berry. References to Charles Taylor A Secular Age frame much of his thinking. I appreciate how he made Taylor's observations digestible and relevant. In particular, I resonated with his observations about losses of community, wonder, and meaningful work in our culture, as well as the sad state of political dialogue. In any of these areas, the church has a place to rise up and reclaim a voice for "the common good." Finally, I would be remiss to ignore Meador's winsome, personal anecdotes sprinkled throughout his work.
CONS:
While Meador's circling around three major themes helped reinforce his argument, at times the book felt repetitive. His theological arguments played heavily on the bookends of the biblical narrative (Genesis 1-2; Revelation 21-22), but he seemed to skip a great deal of material in the middle. Jesus kingdom ethic and the NT letters offer a wealth of wisdom on community, wonder, and meaningful work. And much could be gleaned from the Mosaic Law, Psalms, Proverbs, and prophetic writings. Finally, his solutions could use further development. Because he stressed the need for "proximate" work in our own spheres of influence, it makes sense he does not try and offer a meta-solution. But greater community, wonder, and more meaningful work hardly creates a common good. I know this is not exactly what he said, but the pastor in me always looks for a more robust application.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It enriched my thinking in many areas.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Chris
- 06-27-20
Helpful
So thankful to know that there are Christians who are conscientiously trying to understand and apply Scripture and our rich Reformed and Augustinian heritage to the deeply pressing questions of late modernity, the fading attractions of late Capitalism and the bitter disappointments that have tragically accompanied the blurred association of Christianity and Western (American, Republican?) liberalism. A helpful introduction by the young, well-informed and balanced contributor to the online (excellent) blog Mere Orthodoxy.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mike miller
- 01-16-20
mixed bag
mixed bag of. post mil theology
social engineering
but several good points made
deserves a CAREFUL listen
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!